Suturing of body tissue is a time consuming aspect of many surgical procedures. For many surgical procedures, it is necessary to make a large opening in the human body to expose the area that requires surgical repair. There are instruments available that allow for viewing of certain areas of the human body through a small puncture wound without exposing the entire body cavity. These instruments, called endoscopes, can be used in conjunction with specialized surgical instruments to detect, diagnose, and repair areas of the body that previously required open surgery to access.
Some surgical instruments used in endoscopic procedures are limited by the manner in which they access the areas of the human body in need of repair. In particular, the instruments may not be able to access tissue or organs located deep within the body or that are in some way obstructed. Also, many of the instruments are limited by the way they grasp tissue, apply a suture, or recapture the needle and suture. In addition, the needle can become separated from the needle-driving device and lost within a patient. Furthermore, many of the instruments are complicated and expensive to use due to the numerous parts and/or subassemblies required to make them function properly.